Inside Us All
by myboygeorge
Summary: It's been two years since Kelso's death...Jackie and Hyde have gotten married and things are working out between them...what happens when another unexpected event mixes things up for good a 2nd time? T Rating for language in future chapters
1. A Discovery

**A/N:** Hey everyone...so i decided to continue in the world where Kelso is in the big blue beyond and Jackie and Hyde got back together...this is a much more happy cheery story and i hope i get hte same response as y'all gave Kelso's death, so here you go! First chapter is up...R&R&Enjoy!

* * *

When Jackie woke up, all she wanted to do was vomit until she thought some internal organs might be dislodged, just has she had for the last two weeks. Getting out of bed, away from Hyde's grip – who knew that bad-ass Steven Hyde was a cuddly sleeper – she made a mad dash for the toilet, and turned on the faucets on the sink so he wouldn't be woken up by the sound of her retching. After being certain that her liver was still in its proper place, Jackie flushed the toilet and leaned back against the cool tile of the wall.

She'd been feeling weird like this for two weeks now, and Jackie never got sick. She'd had a summer cold here and there, but her immune system apparently was built of iron; noting got through. So why now? She looked up at the glass-fronted medicine cabinet and her eyes landed on the little blue box of Tampax on the bottom shelf. Doing a quick bit of counting, Jackie clapped her hands to her mouth in self-berating shock.

_Of course, you idiot_, she admonished herself._ That's why you've been throwing up every morning for the last two weeks straight, that's why your boobs hurt and your hormones have been so wacky. You've got Steven's frizzy hair baby growing in there._

Jackie bit her lip. It had been nearly two years since she'd been back, nearly two years since Michael had died and she and Hyde had finally worked out their differences. She'd moved home to Point Place, into Hyde's apartment above the record store which was a pretty swank palace unto itself. Her beauty spa and boutique, _California Kisses_, which promoted the best luxury personal maintenance services east of Beverly Hills, had become a great success. Jackie tended to thank hard work and a little help from Fez telling all his friends in Chicago to check it out, and Donna promoting it on her radio show. Jackie couldn't believe how far she'd gone from being the spoiled princess of the group to the hard-headed business woman; she had this startling revelation come over her when she called her first staff meeting after the opening of the spa.

Even her relationship with Hyde had worked out for the best, better than anyone else could have hoped for. Within five months of her return, they'd held their wedding ceremony, neither wanting the expense of lavish nuptials since Jackie was still getting her business off the ground. It had been a simple but tasteful affair: Donna, Brooke and Betsey wore blue dresses with silver and white accents, Eric and Fez wore traditional tuxes with blue ties and white roses pinned to their lapels. Red had given her away, since neither of Jackie's parents deigned to show up; Jack was in court yet again, this time on tax fraud charges, and Pam was _incommunicado _in Rio. The reception was held at the Foreman's house, a simple barbecue to commemorate the Veterans Day that marked Hyde and Jackie's first date, with lots of beer beef and two kinds of brownies that were clearly marked so the parents would not get the wrong ones again.

Then they'd been driven by Eric in the El Camino to the airport where they left for two weeks to go to Hawaii, where they'd spent just as much time in bed as they had exploring the island and indulging with the locals.

But children had never come up. Not once since they'd gotten back together had there ever been talking of procreation between them. Jackie knew that Hyde was good with children, she'd seen how he treated Betsey in such a loving way, and knew that he would be the same way with his own children. But it was the telling him that they'd have their own children, telling him that he would now be responsible for a life outside of his own that would change everything they'd so carefully rebuilt.

Her thoughts were broken when Hyde knocked on the door of the bathroom, making Jackie jump a foot.

"Babe? You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied. _I am pretty frickin' far from okay._

"Don't take too long, we gotta be in Madison by noon. Donna and I are doing Kelso's Corner today."

"Oh right." Jackie had completely forgotten that since today was Saturday, it meant that Donna and he honoured their friend by doing a three hour segment called Kelso's Corner, dedicated to Michael Kelso and his love of good music. "I'll be out in a few minutes, just need to brush my teeth."

By the time they arrived in Madison, Hyde and Donna left almost immediately for the station, leaving Eric to entertain Jackie. Despite their history together, in that Eric had despised Jackie's existence up until she'd stopped dating Kelso, they'd become close. Now they were sitting together on the park bench, watching the kids play in the sunny July afternoon, knowing it would be only a matter of time before they came over and asked to go down to the beach and go swimming.

"I'm glad they're doing the Kelso Corner today. It's been exactly two years since Kelso passed away," Eric commented. When this elicited no response from Jackie, Eric looked over and saw her staring off into space. "Jackie?"

"What?" Jackie whipped her head around to look at Eric. "What?"

"Jackie, are you okay?"

"I think I'm pregnant," she blurted out.

Eric stared at his friend, felt an odd sort of déjà vu. Jackie had had a pregnancy scare before, when she was only fifteen and Eric had been the one she talked to. Now, fifteen years later they were once again back in the same situation.

"Are you sure? Is it possible that

"My boobs hurt, my hormones are in overdrive, I've been throwing up every morning for the last two weeks and no matter how much I eat, I'm not putting on any weight and I never feel full."

Eric pressed his lips together to avoid smiling. These were the exact same symptoms Donna has bemoaned when she first discovered she was carrying Roberta. Despite feeling like death warmed over, Donna had been ecstatic. But Roberta had been a planned pregnancy and Eric could tell by the look on Jackie's face that this one was not.

"Have you talked to Hyde about it yet?"

"Talked to me about what?"

The voice had Jackie's insides freezing as she looked over her shoulder and saw Hyde standing with a microphone in hand and two other WCRB crew members. She could see he was trying for a smile, but it didn't quite replace the worry in his eyes.

"Talk to me about what, Jackie," he repeated.


	2. A Little Bit of Doubt

Jackie's mind was a blank. There were no thoughts, just pure blinding white panic. She swallowed numbly, rose on shaking legs. "Oh God," she mumbled, "I thought I'd be able to tell you when I knew for sure."

"What's going on Jackie?" The worry in Hyde's voice was genuine. He had seen her look so distressed since Kelso's funeral. He grabbed her arm. "Seriously."

Jackie was ready to burst into tears but she held it together; he was, after all at work, in a manner of speaking. "I…I think I'm pregnant."

"What?"

"I think I'm pregnant," she repeated, watched as it sunk in to her husband's conscience.

Hyde rubbed a hand over his mouth, looked back at his crew. "Guys, can you just give me a moment?" When they left, Hyde sat down beside Jackie, looked at her. "Is this…like, for real?"

"Yeah. I haven't taken a test yet, but I think I should. I'll get Eric to stop at the drug store for me, and I'll pick one up. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you, I know you have to go on the air soon."

"No, it's good. I'm glad you told me."

"Steven…what if it's positive?"

Hyde couldn't answer that question. He simply kissed Jackie's cheek. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'll see you back at Foreman's."

Hyde watched her go, picked up Pat into a bear hug as she spoke quietly to Eric. It was hard to see Jackie as a mother figure, even harder to see himself as a father figure. Neither of them had come from very stable familial backgrounds. Eric's parents had done their best by him and he'd turned out okay, but that didn't replace bad genes. Not WB's since after he'd found out about his illegitimate child he'd took him in just as Red and Kitty had. Edna's on the other hand had given him the potential to be an alcoholic commitment-phobic with no parental instincts. The thought of passing on that possibility into the world had him cringing. Sighing deeply he folded and unfolded the arms of his aviator sunglasses, then jumped when Donna placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, we're just about ready to go live. So today, because it is the two year anniversary of Kelso's death, we're going to be going around the park and talking to people about their memories of Kelso and asking them about their favourite music and…hey are you all right?"

"My wife thinks she's knocked up."

"What? That's great!" Donna shrieked, jumping up and down a little; only base male instinct had Hyde glancing at her chest slightly when she did so. "That's seriously awesome! I can't believe that you're going to be a daddy!"

_Daddy_. The words hit him like a sledgehammer, and Hyde felt his lunch slid greasily towards his throat. "Yeah, I guess."

"You guess?"

"It wasn't exactly something we planned."

This one prevented Donna from doing a happy little jig. "Oh. So are you hoping she's not pregnant?"

"I don't know, man. I just…Donna, I'm not cut out to be a parent."

"Oh bullshit Hyde, you're fantastic with Roberta and Pat, and Betsey. Now come on. We've got a show to do."

Hyde was able to put it out of his mind for a little while they went through the park, discussing classic rock albums with locals and asking their opinions on one of the finest young officers to die in the line of duty. As Donna interviewed a cop from the same division as Kelso, Hyde found his eyes wandering over to a family in the park. A woman lounged on a blanket with a nail file while the man beside her grooved out to his headphones. Two young boys, no more than five years old were kicking a soccer ball back and forth between them, occasionally glancing over at their parents. _There's me and Jackie in five years time if we become parents,_ Hyde smirked. Then when one of the children ran up to the woman, she immediately put aside the nail file and gave her undivided attention to the small person in front of her. When she pulled the boy into her lap, she pulled a book from her tote and began to read to him, smiling when he turned the page. The man removed his headphones and called to the boy, who kicked the ball to his dad.

"I can see your wheels turning," Donna said behind him, after she'd cut to a commercial break. "You're wondering if you could be that family or if it'll be like yours and Jackie's were."

"I don't want to be the reason a child is messed up, Donna. What if I suck at it?"

"You won't. You helped us raise Fez and Kelso didn't you?"

Hyde had to laugh at this. "This is true."

"And I happen to know for a fact that Jackie did a great job when Roberta went on her career-day trip to _California Kisses_. It's called practice Hyde. You and Jackie will be great parents."

"We don't know for sure if she is or not. But if she is…" Hyde trailed off, looked back to the family that was now digging through a Coleman cooler for lunch, the boys now changed into swim trunks. "If she is, I will just have to do my best."

"Wow, you already sound like a dad."

When they wrapped up their show, and were driving back to Eric and Donna's apartment, Hyde stared out the window. There was simply no easy way to say it: he just didn't want kids. He wasn't cut out to be a parent.

They entered the apartment and when Hyde saw his wife laughing at one of Eric's jokes, he thought his heart stopped beating. She looked absolutely gorgeous; her skin seemed to emanate a light radiance and looked soft as a melted marshmallow. Her eyes were darker, masking the difference in their colour. When she glanced over and he saw the smile on her face, Hyde knew there had never been anything more beautiful in his life.

"Um, why don't we give you guys some privacy?" Eric suggested, nudging Donna towards their bedroom.

Once alone, Jackie slid off the barstool and faced Hyde.

"So?"

"Yes."

With that one word, Hyde stumbled towards her, and planted a whopping kiss on her mouth. His arms came around her and held her tightly, as did hers, and he rained an assault of kisses on her lips.

"I don't care that it wasn't planned. I promise, however messed up our parents were, this little baby will be the exact opposite of that."

"Steven you're rambling."

"I know. I don't care. I love you."

Jackie took his hand and pressed to her belly, just below her navel. "We love you too."


	3. A Big Breakfast and A Hearbeat

Two days later, on Monday morning, Hyde awoke to the smell of bacon and fresh brewed coffee. It wasn't unusual for Jackie to be up before him, since her shop opened an hour earlier than his across town – who did their hair or nails done at 8 am anyways – but the breakfast smells were new. Usually Hyde had to persuade her on pain of Fluffycakes' mutilation to eat something aside from a muffin or bagel or even just coffee. Stumbling out to the kitchen, he saw Jackie piling eggs onto her plate and drowning them in ketchup while sipping on a glass of orange juice with a straw.

"What's all this?"

Jackie looked over at him, her smile a little guilty. "I woke up this morning and was craving a big breakfast so I decided to make some bacon and eggs. Why don't you whip up some waffles?"

Hyde watched her tear into her breakfast with the class and grace of a cave woman, and shed a tear for all pigs in the tri-state area. Jackie would never admit it but she loved her bacon, and her beef jerky, and if she could put away half a pound on her normal diet, well he didn't want to think what would happen to Wisconsin's porcine population during her pregnancy.

"Jackie, it's seven thirty, shouldn't you be on your way to work?"

"I called Paula, told her to open up for me this morning. I did some reading through one of Donna's pregnancy books and it said being around strong smells, especially chemical ones can induce vomiting and that's not good."

"So this means I'll have to give up the circle," Hyde realized with more than a little horror.

Jackie polished off the last of her bacon, moved onto the eggs. "I think it's something we should ask the doctor. We have an appointment on Friday."

"I think he'll say no more circle."

"Waffles?"

"Yes…pancakes?" Hyde looked quizzically at Jackie, unsure if this was a new experiment in pet names.

"No, I mean I'd like some."

"Jackie I've just sat here and watched you eat an entire pound of bacon, three eggs and guzzle down two and a half glasses of orange juice. How can you possibly be hungry?"

"Well I am," Jackie pouted, refilling her glass with juice. "I can't help it, my body's going through some pretty radical changes Steven."

"I know…it's just a little embarrassing to me when my ninety five pound wife can put away the same amount as a Packer's fullback."

"I won't be ninety-five pounds for long. I'll be putting on baby weight, and you better not telling me I'm getting fat, or else I'll crush you like a berry. Oh berries, I think I should stop at the market for some fruit salad on my way to work."

"How about I take you out for dinner tonight? To celebrate," Hyde suggested. "We'll go to that steakhouse you like. They have full racks of ribs. Then you can indulge this inner carnivore you've awoken."

"Correction, _you_ awoke it with your little Steven swimmers."

"Whatever you say, doll face."  
-----

By the time Friday hit, Hyde had gotten even more used to his wife's weird new feeding habits, but it still didn't prepare him for the trip they were taking to the doctor's office. It helped a little that Kitty was now working for the doctor, having given up the erratic hours of the hospital in favour of something that would be conducive to Red's retirement hours. But sitting in the Foreman kitchen listening to Kitty say things like 'sonogram' and 'ultrasound' was a far cry from the sterile-smelling office he was now sitting in with Jackie. He wondered how she could be so calm, dressed in the examination gown and flipping through _Vogue_ like she was waiting for a table in a restaurant. Finally, the doctor came in, trailed by Kitty who was not doing a very good job of containing her glee.

"Oh Steven, I know you're not really my son, but you…you kinda are and I'm so glad I'm getting more grandchildren!" she squeaked.

"Nurse Foreman, would you be so kind as to retrieve the ultrasound from exam room three?"

Kitty bobbed out of the room, the grin never leaving her face, making Hyde roll his eyes. The doctor chuckled as he watched her go.

"She's a little nutty but Kitty's the number one nurse on my staff. I'm Doctor Morgan," he said, offering a hand to Hyde.

"Tell me about it, she took me in when my mother took off. She seems normal around her family, though."

"Anyways, I've been reviewing Jackie's chart, and things are looking good." He turned to address the mother to be. "No more nausea in the morning?"

"Nope."

"And you're keeping up your calcium and folic acid intake?"

"I've been eating grilled cheese on whole wheat all week."

"Good, good. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Yeah, I have one," Hyde said, perking up in his chair. "I smoke a little around the house sometimes, not tobacco but…other plants, you know?"

"Yes, I think I do."

"I was just wondering if I should stop that entirely around my wife, or any area that she might be in contact with where that goes on."

"It's recommended that any pregnant woman should avoid all forms of second hand smoke," Doctor Morgan replied.

Hyde nodded and looked at Jackie. "The night that kid is born, I'm having the circle to end all circles."

"You'd give it up for me?"

"Not just you, for the little dude in there."

Kitty popped back into the room then, dragging a rather scary looking piece of equipment. "Okay, now we get to take your baby's first picture, Jackie. You just lie back here."

She turned on the machine and rubbed the jelly across Jackie's stomach as Hyde moved to Jackie's head so he could also see it. Suddenly the room was filled with a swift bopping sound, and a flickering shadow appeared on the screen.

"Oh my god," Jackie breathed.

"It looks like a bobble-head on a potato."

"Steven!"

"It does." Hyde defended himself, making the joke so he wouldn't embarrass himself by crying in front of Kitty. That was all he'd need.

"There it is Steven." Jackie reached a hand back, clasping Hyde's tightly and felt a tear slide down her cheek as he squeezed back. "That's our baby."


	4. A Good Thing to Know

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who's review so far! I love hearin feed back and thanks to caspar1990, sometimestheycallmejackie, etFated, Hydelover83, and Strawberry Water for being returning reviewers!...This is one of my fave chapters i've written on Jackie and Hyde, cuz i think it says volumes about how far they've come in their relationship...R&R& keep enjoying!

* * *

"That is a thing of beauty." 

"No, a Monte Cristo sandwich is a thing of beauty. That is a masterpiece."

"Is all you ever think about food now?"

"You try growing a person in your uterus and then we'll see how many calories you burn just staying awake."

Hyde threw his arm around Jackie as they propped their feet on the couch and stared at the crib that it had taken nearly three hours to assemble. Hyde had braced himself when Jackie said she wanted to help, but he was pleasantly surprised when it turned out she knew the difference between a Phillips head and a Robertson screw, unlike most women Hyde knew. After minimal cursing and a couple of near mishaps, the sturdy frame appeared to stay intact.

Jackie smiled, patting the ever growing bump of her belly. She was now into her second trimester, her slender frame beginning to put on the pounds needed to keep up the strength of carrying her child. Her face had started to round out as well, which made her pout a bit, since other pregnant celebs didn't seem to have this problem, but as Fez had pointed out to her in one of his many phone calls – he'd started calling once a week since they'd made the announcement – they had the benefits of airbrushing on their photos and liposuction from rich Beverly Hills doctors.

"I think it's time for us to take a nap," Jackie yawned, "before Eric and Donna's party tonight."

"Can I join you?" Hyde leaned over and kissed his neck in the teasing way he knew she liked; he knew he liked it because she made those little humming sounds in her throat that caused his own nerves to bounce and jiggle. "Steven."

"You know you get all sweaty seeing me do manual labour. I'll show you my screwdriver." Hyde wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.Had anyone told him that pregnant women could be such an aphrodisiac he'd have told them to switch dealers, yet his wife was approaching parade-size and he'd never wanted her more. It could have something to do with the fact her breasts seemed to have doubled in size, or that her butt had also gained some poundage, but every time he kissed her, he wanted to take her to bed and have a repeat performance of how she was knocked up in the first place.

Jackie smiled softly at Hyde. She knew what he was after; she wanted the same thing herself. But there was a guest down there. Who knew what it could hear, and couldn't sex noises disturb its development? Both of them were absolutely determined to do this parenting thing right, and she didn't want to mess it up.

"Steven, really, I just…I'm not sure if we can."

"Alright, alright. But if I go blind from self abuse, I'm blaming you."

Jackie kissed him then pulled herself up from the couch. "We're leaving at six, so wake me up around four. I'm dressing for two so I need double the amount of time to get ready."

----

The Foreman's house had been beautifully decorated for Eric and Donna's anniversary party, with streamers and balloons in the yellow and orange that had been the wedding party colours. Jackie smiled as she remembered vocally objecting to being dressed up like a banana even if it was for her best friend's wedding. She also blissfully remembered high heeled shoes.

"Oh, look, it's the parents to be," Kitty squealed when she saw Jackie and Hyde come in the front door. "Honey, I made sure I mixed you a virgin daiquiri and kept it in the fridge."

"What kind?"

"Strawberry pineapple, your favourite kind."

"Oh, Kitty, no, no," Hyde corrected her, "Jackie doesn't like pineapple. Makes her queasy now."

"Oh look at you, so attentive." Kitty threw her arms around her adopted son. "That's okay, 'cause when I made it for her, I tried a bit and I realized it just didn't have the same zip without a little splash of Bacardi Gold."

"How about I just stick to some Seven-Up." When Jackie went to find herself a soft drink, Hyde wandered over to the bar, and saw Donna in a heated battle with Red over the blender.

"I'm telling you, it goes tequila, gin and vodka, Triple sec and then you blend it with ice and add a Coke."

"And I'm telling you it's tequila, gin vodka, my foot and then you blend it with your ass."

Hyde laughed lightly as he sidled up to Donna. "Yes, the ever popular Long Island Foot in the Ass. Very popular amongst wisecracking commies."

"Shut it, Curly Sue," Red started, then shook Hyde's hand. "So how's the wife doing?"

"Good, good. She's started wearing surgical masks at work because of all the airborn chemicals, which freaked out a few people but when she explained it was for protecting her baby, her tips sky-rocketed."

"She driving you crazy yet?"

Hyde shrugged as he sipped his beer. "I married Jackie; wouldn't you say that kind of gives me a pass on the crazy?"

Red laughed then went to deliver his wife's drink to her, leaving Hyde to talk to Donna in private.

"Hey I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Suddenly, Hyde found himself very uncomfortable. He dragged her by the hand to the basement, away from anyone who might overhear what he wanted to ask. Once in the privacy of their high school hangout, Hyde sat down in his favourite chair and rested his elbows on his knees.

"I haven't had sex with Jackie in like…three months and it's driving me crazy."

"Why not?"

"I think she's worried it'd do something to the baby."

Before Donna could reply, Jackie came downstairs. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Jackie, it's fine."

"Is this about me not having sex with you?"

Hyde's eyes bugged out at Jackie's blunt question, but nodded his agreement. "I just wanted to ask Donna how she dealt with it."

"Eric and I did it every time we could right up until I was in labour." Donna smiled slyly. "Why do you think we bought a new kitchen table before a crib?"

"So it didn't do any damage, or anything?" Jackie asked.

"Nope."

"Donna, we need you up here! Kitty needs another iced tea or she's threatening to sing!" Eric hollered down the stairs. Donna excused herself, leaving Jackie and Steven in privacy.

"Why didn't you say anything, Jackie?" Hyde asked her softly.

"I…I didn't want to look stupid. I've been reading all those books and stuff, but not a lot of them talking about sex; it's all about the baby."

"Well now that we know, we can be just as frisky as we were before, starting when we get home tonight."

They sat in silence for about ten seconds, before Hyde looked at the space back near the water heater. "Hey, you know what? I think my old bed is still back there, in my old room."

Jackie looked back as well, then at him. "I'll race you."


	5. A Day Off

**A/N:** Thanks also to Zenkindoflove! Sorry I left you out in the last chapter! This was another fun chapter to write, so enjoy!

* * *

The following morning, Brooke insisted on having brunch for Eric and Donna's anniversary at Denny's, much to Hyde's chagrin. Institutions like that food emporium were all part of the government's way of keeping the system in place and the masses oblivious. The plus side was it offered a great Denver omelette and allowed him to take great pleasure in watching everyone else's faces as Jackie shovelled in a stack of pancakes the size of the Sears tower.

"Good thing we left Roberta and Pat with my parents," Eric muttered, "she'd eat them too. They're small and not fast runners."

"They're too stringy anyways," Jackie added, reaching for the syrup.

"Hey!"

"Well, I'm sorry Eric, but with your genes, what could you expect?"

"That they'd end up like Donna."

"Michael was so sweet when I was in my hungry phase," Brooke said, smiling appreciatively. "He'd bring me the weirdest things, like French fries with cheddar cheese and strawberry jam, and never say a word."

"That's because Kelso would never have seen that as weird Brooke. Your husband once ate potato chips with peanut butter," Hyde said, passing Jackie the butter when she elbowed his ribs.

"So have you started thinking about names yet?" Donna asked.

Jackie looked at Hyde, hoping that she didn't come off looking like a bad mother because she hadn't yet. "Well, how did you pick your names?"

"My dad's name is Bob and Kitty's real name is Katrina, so that worked out nicely."

"Huh. Well, I don't think my child would be too popular with a name like Pamela Edna."

"Or William Bud, that's got criminal written all over it," Hyde added. "I don't know if we should stick to family names. We want this child to be normal."

"Well you've still got what, five months to go?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah, I'm due the beginning of March."

"So, yeah you've got plenty of time."

The rest of breakfast was pleasant, but Jackie remained subdued for the remainder, something that didn't escape Hyde's attention. He didn't say anything until they'd left the restaurant and were back in the car.

"Feel like going to see a movie? That new Nic Cage one in Las Vegas is supposed to be pretty good."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Something on your mind?" It was a rhetorical question, of course there was something on her mind, but he asked it anyways.

"Steven, I have been reading up on how to care for the baby, how to make sure it doesn't get hurt while I'm growing it, how to make sure I don't get hurt while growing it, but…"

"But what?"

"It never occurred to me that we need to name it. We can't just call it the kid, nor can we call it 'the dumbass' all the time like Red does."

"I know, dollface, but Brooke's right, we still have five months to pick out the perfect name."

Jackie, feeling slightly more relieved, settled back into her seat and stared out the window. "Can we get the really big popcorn at the movies?"

"What, no barbecued heifer or beef hip?"

"I thought that could be dinner."

----

The following morning, when Jackie woke up, she immediately wanted to go back to Dreamland. Normally, she was a morning person, she liked being up early, but apparently the baby had a different opinion today. She rubbed her hand over the side of her belly and could have sworn she felt the outline of a small foot against her palm. It made her look down at her hands and realized that the once doll-like features had now begun. The shallow part of her wanted to cry, but the rest of her, the part that was now being swallowed up in mommy instincts, simply smiled and admired this change. She'd always admired Kitty's hands, they were so tough and capable looking but still delicate and feminine.

She rolled over onto her side and saw a pocketsize book with a little paper note on top of it.

_Morning babe. We had a shipment arrive early this morning so I had to go in an hour before we opened. I don't want you looking at any of your books today, you've been working too hard lately and you deserve a break. I'll see you for dinner. Xfx Steve. P.S. I picked this up at the store for you last night. Thought it might help_.

Jackie giggled softly at the note; 'xfx' was Hyde's cute way of giving her a French kiss on paper. It annoyed her only a little that Hyde was telling her to use her 'work-on-paperwork-at-home' day to just lie around. Nearing the beginning of December meant she had to set up Christmas party packs on manicures, pedicures and facials, not mention making sure that she could afford the 'Christmas Cuts and Colour' deal she was working on.

But, oh how she just wanted to lie in bed for another century or two. She could always get her husband to help her when he came home. Satisfied with this solution, she set the note aside and picked up the book, entitled _The Pocket Book of Baby Names_. This would be a fun way to procrastinate on cooking her business' books for a little while. As she thumbed through the book, stopped on a page of boy names, she let out a little gasp when she felt a distinct kick from deep within. The book slid out of her grasp as she placed both hands on the sides of her tummy, and felt it again. Fumbling for the bedside phone, she punched in Hyde's work number.

"Hyde in the Wall, Steven Hyde speaking."

"Steven it moved."

"What?"

"The baby moved."

"Where?"

Jackie swiped at the tear on her cheek. "No, I mean, it kicked. It's really in there; it's moving around and stuff."

"Oh, wow, that's awesome, babe." Hyde shut the door of his office, locked it so none of his employees could wander in and overhear. "Did you see the present I left?"

"Yeah, I did. I think it's a girl."

"How do you know?"

"I started looking at boys' names and it kicked for the first time, like she was saying, _ew boys are gross_. I think it's a sign she's going to be a cheerleader, just like her mama."

Hyde could hear the tone in Jackie's "We're not calling our child Dallas, Jackie."

"I love you Steven."

"You can kiss my ass all you want, it's not happening."

"Fine!" she snapped, then immediately softened. "Do you think you could pick me up some orange sorbet on your way home from work? I've been craving it all day."

"Fine, but that means you have to do something for me, too."

"What might that be?" When Hyde remained silent on the other end of the line, Jackie rolled her eyes and laughed. "You're a sick, sick man."

"Yeah and you love me."

"Yeah, I do."


	6. A Surprise Guest

The following weekend, since Hyde only worked once a month on Kelso's Corner, Saturday was spent on a baby blitz. Jackie had spent some time looking through decorating magazines with Eric while Donna and Hyde did the sweating moving and lifting. It didn't make a lick of difference to a single one of the four that it was two teams of a girl and a guy; it was widely understood that Eric was the one with the keen fashion ideas and Donna was the one better built for manual labour. It was the nineties after all, anything was possible and up for being cool.

Now they sat in the living room, Jackie's feet propped on Hyde's shoulders as he sat on the floor in front of her. She knew it was a safe bet because if Hyde tickled her feet, she'd kick him in the head, resulting in no loving once Big Red and Skinny Man left. Hyde had been amazingly sensitive and stopped the circle, he'd bought her the weird foods she craved – everything from strawberry ice cream with chocolate sauce to the truly bizarre French fries with peach jelly – and when she threw a hiss fit over the slightest thing, he simply took her hands and said, "Jackie, breathe," and it somehow made whatever she'd been freaking out about go away.

"Hey, Hyde, why exactly do you have four jars of peach jelly in the fridge?" Donna asked, retrieving three beers and an apple juice for Jackie from the kitchen.

"Apparently Jackie says peach jelly is better on French fries than ketchup."

"Haha, yeah, I've been there. I put mustard on everything when I was pregnant with Pat."

Hyde smiled and patted Jackie's foot. "You don't wanna see her when we run out. It was worse than Pinciotti versus Foreman for the friends after you split up in grade eleven."

"Alright, everyone, shut up, Bruce Willis is about to kick some serious German ass."

The group settled in to watch _Die Hard_, Jackie's occasional requests for peach jelly-laden snacks being fulfilled on commercials. Then suddenly, after a particularly intense moment, everyone in the room jumped a foot when there was a thunderous knock on the door. Hyde looked at Jackie, who seemed as confused as he felt. Then came the voice.

"Let me in, you son of a bitch who is having a son!"

Hyde went to the door and in burst Fez, in a torrent of waving hands and reeking of Hugo Boss cologne.

"Fez, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in New York?"

"No, I'm in between shows right now, and Miss Kitty invited me for a visit." Fez immediately went over to Jackie, immediately sat on the couch and took her feet into his lap. "I wanted to surprise my favourite mother-to-be. In my country we worship pregnant women."

"Does that mean you are going to sacrifice a goat and throw my wife into a volcano?" Hyde asked.

"No, we stopped doing that when our goat population went downhill."

"Fez, seriously, what are you doing here?"

"Well…" Fez trailed off looking guilty as hell. "Kitty called me and said she didn't think that with Hyde working so much that Jackie was getting the attention a mother-to-be needs."

"What the hell?" Jackie screeched.

Hyde rounded on Eric, whose eyelids appeared to have been glued to his forehead, a sure sign of terror. "Did you know about this, Foreman?"

"No! Why would my mother say that?"

"I don't know, all I told her was that I've been getting tired very easily," Jackie defended herself, earning groans from both Eric and Donna.

"Why would you tell that to Kitty?" Eric asked incredulously. "She hears one of the kids sniffle and thinks it's the Ebola virus or something. And since I returned from Africa anytime I get sick she automatically assumes it's some disease I carried home with me that is suddenly waking up."

"You are going to go over to her house and fix this," Hyde pointed a finger at Jackie, tapped her lightly on the nose with it.

"Now?"

"Of course not. We're finishing watching John McClane kick ass. Then we're having sex tonight, and then tomorrow morning we're going there for Sunday dinner. You can do it then."

Fez sat down beside Jackie, having found the stash of chocolate dipped pretzels in the cupboard and passed the bag back and forth between them. "Sex with a pregnant woman. Man, even that foetus is seeing more action than me," he groused.

"Trouble with the ladies?" Eric smirked. He wasn't about to hide the fact that he didn't understand how he could have gone from the horny foreign guy to an all-singing all-dancing ladies' man who had his pick of stage and film babes.

"Yes, Madeleine was angry with me when she found out that I was still seeing Niecia, but like I told her, there is too much Fez-love here to be confined to just one person. Now Madeleine won't take my calls, Niecia has stopped giving me her loving until I fix things with Madeleine and I think that one of my co-stars, Jeremy, might have been hitting on me in our last rehearsal."

"Oh, poor Fez. Here, you can rub my tummy."

Fez licked chocolate from his thumb and rested his palm against Jackie's belly. "Hey little buddy in there, who do you think Uncle Fez should chose, because he's really – hey!" Fez jumped back like he'd been atabbed. "That thing kicked me!"

Eric and Donna looked at each other. "Could it be?" Donna asked.

"I think so, my love."

Hyde smiled. "That's right, it was baby's first burn."


	7. A Scary Moment

**A/N:** Thanks to the reviews of the last chapter! This one was originally supposed to be chapter 6 but I wanted to put something in there with Fez cuz he hasn't been mentioned at all in this story yet...so i bumped this story and I made it a little longer since the last chapter was a little shorter. R&R&Enjoy!

* * *

Jackie sighed as she poured pretzels into a bowl. It had been a month since the visit from Fez, and with only ten left days before Christmas, she wanted to be at work before she had to stop going in at all. They'd gotten past the unpleasantness of her accusation that Hyde didn't care about Jackie's well being; she had simply thought that since Jackie couldn't work as much, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra hand around the house and Fez was always eager to help Jackie out. Once this had been clarified, Hyde made sure that he kept his hours reasonable and even started going by the salon every day Jackie was in the shop.

Now things were back to the usual routine and Kitty was insisting on throwing her a baby shower. Normally she'd be thrilled at having a party, but this was on Saturday, her busiest day of the week and she was actually missing the sound of her antique cash register ringing up sales. Still Kitty had been kind enough to offer her house for the bash and she knew it would be incredibly rude of her to turn her down since the woman was, for all practical purposes, her mother-in-law.

"Mrs Foreman, you don't have to do this, I know it's your only day off this week."

"Oh, it's no trouble Jackie, I love throwing get-togethers like this. Besides, you need a baby shower, with you and Steven both working you've barely had time to go shopping for things."

"But we don't know if it a boy or girl yet."

"Right, but you have two showers, Jackie. One now, to get all the standard stuff like diaper genies and breast pumps and everything that's universal. Then after the baby comes, you have one for the gender specific things." Kitty bent over to take the pizza rolls out of the oven then looked at Jackie. She was still very slender, the bulge of her stomach looking like a smuggled watermelon under her sweater. "Jackie, has your doctor said anything about your weight gain?"

"Not really, why?"

"It's just…there doesn't appear to be a lot, you know? Women naturally put on weight when they're carrying a child, and you're just over six months, and honey you look like a cheerleader hiding a beach ball."

Jackie nibbled a pretzel but said nothing. Kitty wasn't the first person to point it out to her. Doctor Morgan had commented on it as well, and so had Hyde. It worried Jackie a little as well – she never thought she'd see the day where she considered staying slim a bad thing – because she knew that according to the book, she should be about ten pounds heavier. Still, she was going to see her doctor in two days and she'd have him run the full gamut of tests to see what exactly the deal was with this not-gaining weight business.

She grabbed the bowl of pretzels and dip and went through the swinging door into the living room and stopped short when she saw the people there. They were her girlfriends, her staff from the store, and of course Donna and Brooke were there. Each one had come for her, not because of her looks or her money, but because of the little person she was creating inside of her. They brought gifts they thought she would need or use, or just simply because they thought she'd like them. Jackie felt the tears well up in her eyes, didn't bother trying to fight them. Already her baby was taken care of, and it wasn't' even born yet; how could she not love this tiny little one when already he or she was bringing her so much joy?

"Speech, speech," Donna said, clinking a spoon against her punch glass.

"Donna it's not a wedding."

"Don't care, you made me talk at my shower for Pat."

Jackie placed her hands on her knees to help give leverage to stand up. Then suddenly everything seemed to go grey around the edges of her vision; she took to tumbling steps to the right. Jackie tried to steady herself but the world seemed to swim away in black and white. The last thing she heard was Donna yelling for Kitty to call an ambulance.

----

Hyde burst into the emergency room, face bright red from the December wind. He looked around wildly before he saw Donna waiting for him; he raced over and grabbed her in a tight hug before they marched double-time down the hall to the elevators.

"What happened?"

"She fainted at the baby shower, and we brought her to the hospital. She came around once in the ambulance and asked for you."

Hyde felt his throat swell shut with emotion as they stepped onto the elevator. "The baby?" was all he could manage.

"The baby's fine, she didn't fall, I grabbed her in time," Donna reassured him, and thank God she'd been sitting beside her friend, otherwise that would have been a whole different conversation they'd have been having. She saw this news wash over Hyde in a tsunami wave of relief and nearly cried herself when she saw him press the heels of his hands to his eyes, his shoulders giving one big heave before the elevator dinged open.

They stepped off on Jackie's floor and walked down the hall to her room. Donna stopped Hyde outside her door. Thankfully, before Hyde could storm in on the white horse he denied he'd ever ridden in on Kitty stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

"Oh, Steven, thank goodness." Kitty embraced him tightly before giving him the lowdown on his wife's condition. "The baby's fine, there was no disruption, but they are concerned about Jackie's size because she's so tiny. They've got her sedated so she can get some rest and her doctor hooked her up to an IV to get some fluids in her."

"Okay, okay," Hyde said, dragging his hands through his hair. "Can I see her?"

"Of course honey."

Hyde gently shoved open the door, but nothing could have prepared him for the sight of his wife hooked up to tubes, wearing an oxygen tube around her nose. Her usually glowing caramel coloured skin was pale as chalk, her baby bump poking up like a basketball under the blankets. He went to the side of her bed, pulled up and chair and took her hand as he sat down as she murmured something unintelligible. Hyde had heard her like this before; she wasn't really awake, she was muttering at the noises around her. For all her talking and jawing, Jackie Burkhart had one excellent set of ears.

"Hey Jackie," he said gruffly, hoping he didn't make too much noise.

"Steven," she mumbled sleepily.

"I'm here, baby, right here."

"So sorry."

"It's okay, you're going to be fine. The baby's fine." Hyde kissed her forehead, not liking how clammy she felt.

Doctor Morgan stepped into the room then, a solemn look on his face that had ice forming in Hyde's gut.

"Hey doc, so what's the deal?" Hyde asked nervously.

"Well the baby's in no danger, heartbeat is good and strong, but I'm concerned about Jackie's health. She hasn't gained a proper amount of weight for someone her size that is about to give birth. I am going to recommend a month of bed rest so that she can limit her exertions to the absolute minimum."

"So what does that mean, exactly?"

"The only times she should be out of bed are going to the bathroom, and the appointment I'm scheduling for her in two weeks from Monday. I'll give you a moment alone, but I just wanted to make sure that I gave you this information so you can discuss it with your wife when she wakes up."

"Okay, well, if you need anything I'll be right here." Hyde gripped Jackie's hand tightly. "I'm not going anywhere."


	8. A Merry Christmas

**A/N:** Alright so I'm sorry if I scared any of you while you were reading the last chapter but you always gotta keep it interesting...the line 'corduroy commandos' is straight out of the season 4 episode 'Kelso's Career' when he's making 'manly donations' to a certain kind of bank...just a couple more chapters to go!

* * *

By Thursday, Jackie was ready to kill her husband, Eric, and all the men who'd ever gotten their wives pregnant. She'd been confined to the bed for nearly five days and she was going absolutely crazy. She wasn't allowed to look at her books for the spa, she wasn't allowed to make herself some tea in her own damn kitchen, she wasn't even allowed to pee alone. Even that small amount of privacy was gone thanks to the home nurse who came and spent eight hours a day with her. Thank God they had great health insurance otherwise she'd have had to sell off her spa just to cover the nurses fees for a week.

And the nurse, God what a bitch she was, all perky and cute and helpful. Worst of all she was a size four, just like Jackie had been before Hyde's corduroy commandos stormed her uterus, and that alone made Jackie want to kill her. Right now she was babbling on about her boyfriend and how he was just the sweetest guy in the world; it made Jackie want to punt her like a football out of her living room window.

"Look, Nurse Ratched, I'm sure Dave's a great guy but listen. I am pushing seven months pregnant here, it's nearly Christmas and I wanted to be putting up Christmas decorations with my husband, not stuck on my ass in bed so if you have a little story that will help make that feel better then go right ahead. Otherwise shut the hell up, go make yourself useful and get me a big glass of caffeine-free Coke with ice and a splash of orange juice."

Jackie took some small satisfaction as she watched the girl scurry into the kitchen, then heard her husband come in. He spoke in low tones with the little blonf helper monkey before coming into the bedroom, a concerned look on his face.

"Hi honey."

"Don't 'honey' me, Steven Hyde."

The tone said it all: Jacqueline Burkhart was not in a mood to be tampered with. Instead he took off his jacket, and stretched out on the bed beside her. "I know it's hard, sweetie, but remember what Doctor Morgan said. You don't want to hurt yourself or the baby. I want to keep both of you around for quite awhile longer."

"I am miserable here. I want to be able to look out my window on Christmas morning; I want to be able to sit at the table for Kitty's turkey dinner. Hell, I'd settle for being able to pee in private."

Hyde reached over, brushed a strand of hair off of Jackie's flushed cheek. He hated seeing his bitch-on-wheels angel so unhappy. He used to think that it was a matter of greed with Jackie whenever she said 'I want' but he realized now it was a matter of dignity. No one had truly asked her what she wanted during her youth; her parents never had, so much of her teenage life had been dictated out of rebellion or attention-grabbing schemes. Now that she finally had that voice and say in her life, now that she was running the show, she couldn't stand to go back to the way she'd been before. As an idea formed in his brain, Hyde, propped himself up on his elbows.

"I brought home Chinese food for you. That ought to fatten you up like the Christmas pig."

"I never thought I'd see the day where I'd say thank God for MSG."

-----

On Christmas morning, Jackie awoke to a murmur of voices and sounds, which made her first reaction to think that she was not really awake. Yet the feel of the bed under her back, the smell of fresh brewing coffee was too real for her to think otherwise. When she peeled open one eyelid, she began to revert back to her initial response. She was not in her room; the room she normally slept with her hubby in was painted soft gull wing grey and their sheets were shades deeper in grey whale colour. The walls she saw when she awoke were buttercup yellow.

Lifting her head, she saw that wasn't, in fact on some kind of funky painkiller dope trip but she had been somehow transported on a medical stretcher from the bedroom to the living room. She could see the tree they'd so lovingly picked out in the forest with Eric and Donna and the kids; Jackie's job was manning the camera since she'd become a beached whale overnight. It was decorated with many twinkle lights and though there weren't many ornaments on it yet, the tradition of buying the annual ornament, plus ornaments for mom and dad and child would quickly catch up with them. In the corner, the television was playing _Holiday Inn,_ her favourite Christmas show.

Jackie craned her neck over to the couch where Hyde was watching her quietly, a small smile on his face. He looked just as gorgeous as ever in his sleeper pants and wife-beater.

"Merry Christmas, babe," he said, handing her a glass of chocolate milk with a straw in it so she would have less trouble sipping from her prone position.

"How did I end up out here?"

"A lot of sweat, a couple of calls and a very understanding nurse. When I explained how upset you were about missing Christmas morning with the tree and all, we put our heads together. I called Doctor Morgan and he said you have been bumped up to limited mobility for seventy-two hours."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that you walk nowhere, he had a wheelchair sent over for the next three days, but provided that you do nothing more strenuous than breathe or eat or use the bathroom, there isn't any reason over Christmas you should be stuck on your back in bed."

Jackie lifted a hand, which Hyde took as the signal to help her sit up. When she did so, she placed a hand on his cheek and pulled him into her lips for a kiss.

"Oh and once again, Doctor Morgan said that if you limit your exertions when you're out of bed, if we're careful, we can still play hide the candy-cane tonight."

For the first time in over a week, Jackie cracked a genuine smile. "Well, then, I hope you're prepared to be my slave the whole day long. Then I'll be yours."


	9. A Reflection

"Circus?"

"No."

"Unicorns?"

"No?"

"Cartoons?"

"No, and I'm going to go ahead and say no for the next 50 choices."

Jackie glared at Hyde from the prone position on the doctor's examination table, but there was a smile on her face. They were at her doctor's appointment two weeks after the hospital spell, and so far, she'd been bumped up to limited mobility, but there was still the question of whether or not they would find out the sex of the baby. Jackie was adamant to know since she wanted to start designing the palette of the room. The walls were painted a soft butter yellow, an ideal colour for decorating upon when it could be either a boy or a girl, but no specific theme had been picked out yet. Thus, according to Jackie's logic, they should know in advance what they were having so they – and by they she meant Hyde – could have the room decorated.

Thankfully, for Hyde, before his little whale of a wife could wail at him some more, Doctor Morgan came in the room, holding a clipboard and wearing that annoyingly calm look all doctors seemed to have.

"Well, we've gotten the blood sample we took from two weeks ago and compared it to today's sample. The only thing I'm concerned about is that you seem to be a little anaemic so we want to give you a supplement for that. But I think the bed rest and limited mobility we've got you on right now is working just fine."

The doctor looked up from his notes, took off his glasses. "Now, one last question, are you interested in knowing the sex of the baby?"

Hyde and Jackie looked at each other. Hyde knew there was nothing he'd ever denied his wife during her pregnancy, nothing that he hadn't done for her that wasn't for the best. But this one thing was something he wanted for himself, even if it meant Jackie freezing him out.

"Jackie, I don't want to know. Do you?"

"No. No, I don't think I do. I mean, yeah it'd be easier to know in advance so I could making decorating plans, but…this is one of the last great mysteries on Earth, you know? I mean Darth Vader was Luke's dad; Kristen shot J.R., Lois Einhorn is a man, so not much is left aside from the one-armed man on the grassy knoll and finding out the sex of your baby when it comes shooting out of you like a log ride at Six Flags."

Hyde smiled at her, then at the doctor. "And to think in two months Steven Junior or Jackie Junior will call her Mom."

"No, nothing with Junior, it's too Southern."

"Alright."

Once Jackie had redressed and been helped into her chariot, as Hyde had taken to calling it, he helped load her into the El Camino and Hyde dropped her off at the salon before returning to the record store. Jackie smiled as she wheeled herself over to the manicure station, sliding her surgical mask on over her face as she picked up her customer's hand and began to rub the moisturizer into the skin. The woman - girl really - a snotty looking brunette arched an eyebrow at her.

"Why are you wearing that thing? Are you contagious or something?"

"I'm pregnant."

"Oh, I am so sorry." The brunette pressed her other to her chest. "That is so sad."

"Why? My husband and I are thrilled. It's our first baby."

"Yeah, but think of all the things you'll be giving up. Shopping with your girlfriends, going to Cancun for New Years, tequila on Sunday afternoons. You should have just gotten rid of it while you had the chance."

Jackie felt a defiant kick from under the table in her belly. She put hand on the side of her pregnant bump, patted it reassuringly. "As a matter of fact, my girlfriends are taking me shopping on Saturday, I never want to go somewhere warm for New Years except the sauna in my friend's house in Chicago, and as for tequila on Sunday afternoons, what kind of whore are you?"

"The kind who knows that she's not going to be saddle with some brat for the rest of her life."

Jackie looked at her as she reached for the cuticle sticks and for a moment saw the girl she'd once been. It amazed her that she could have been so shallow, amazed her even more to see how far she'd come from that spoiled princess of her teenage years.

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

Jackie smiled behind her mask. "Thank God, you still have time."

The brunette yanked her hand back. "You know what? I don't have to take this. My dad said I could use his credit card to go to Madison, and now I think I might."

She stood up in a haughty huff and walked out the door; Jackie just rubbed her hand in soothing circles over her stomach. She wheeled over to the office, and closed the door, then picked up the phone and dialled Hyde at work.

"Hyde in the Wall, Steven Hyde speaking."

"Hey baby."

"Jackie? Is everything okay?"

Jackie looked at the picture she had on her desk. It was taken by Donna on their wedding day, as they were looking out over the lake at sunset. It was one of Jackie's favourite moments of her life; for the first time she'd truly felt like a princess.

"Yeah, I just wanted to hear your voice. It's the hormones, they're going all weird."

"Okay, well I gotta run though, I'm meeting with my supplier in five minutes."

"Okay. Oh, Steven? I love you."

"I love you too Jackie."


	10. A Night Out

So this is (unfortunately) a chapter chock full of cliffhanger-y goodness...oh and the dinner described is very similar to a swank dinner I had when I went on vacation to a VERY fancy Canadian resort...apparantly I have an uncanny ability to talk about food with my friends and make them hungry, so I'm guinea-pigging (that's right, I'm making up a word!) y'all to see how well it actually works...and as always loving the reviews!

* * *

By the time Valentine's Day rolled around, Jackie had never felt better in her life. She'd gotten Brooke and Donna to take her shopping in Chicago for a dress and new shoes – she was secretly pouting over not getting to wear her heels but her back had a different opinion on that – and Brooke had even offered to do her make-up for her. The attention being lavished on her had made her break down into hysterical sobs in the middle of the ladies change room in Macy's. Once she'd gotten hold of herself, Jackie selected her dress, a gorgeous silky black number that was both flattering to her cleavage and easy to adjust when she went to the toilets ever fifteen minutes. She sighed only a little over the black high heels she knew would look amazing with the swishy material but then when she landed on a pair of black leather sling-back flats, she swore she heard her back muscles singing the hallelujah chorus. She put it all on her credit card and didn't think twice about the scary looking bill she knew she'd see the next month. Donna hadn't been able to come to Chicago on the actual day since she and Eric had their own plans, and despite Brooke's adamant protests, she really didn't mind sharing her house with Jackie and Hyde for the night so they could have dinner at the Delphi Room.

"Are you sure you don't mind? I mean, don't you have a date or anything?" Jackie squirmed only a little form her full bladder, as Brooke selected an eye-shadow palate. They were sitting in Brooke's master bedroom, in front of her antique vanity as Betsey puttered around in the living room.

"Jackie, really, it's fine. Besides, Betsey's having a party and she wants me around, you know, just in case."

"Ah well," Jackie smiled, stroking her fingers over the silky fabric covering her bump as she popped her last iron pill of the day and downed it with root beer. "I suppose that's something I'll have to look forward to as well."

"Believe me, if Michael and I can raise a girl like Betsey, you and Steven should have no problems. You've both come so far, it's amazing."

"Okay, none of that, we just did my eye liner. As much as Steven loves music, I don't think he'd like the mother of his child looking like Alice Cooper tonight."

When Hyde pulled up in the El Camino to Brooke's bungalow, he looked in the mirror at his sideburns. He'd gone to a genuine south-side barbershop and had them give him the full works, the male equivalent of the day at the salon, only instead of shoes and cheating men, they'd discussed engines and last night's Blackhawks game. He realized that in all the time that he and Jackie had been together, they'd only had a handful of truly romantic evenings out. This night he was determined to do right. He'd even worn a sport coat over his blood red dress shirt, that was _definitely_ a sign of definite dress-up.

He walked up to the door, knocked strongly. Betsey answered, her young fresh face spruced up, and she was wearing a body-hugging red sweater that was cut way too low in the front. _Christ I'm already thinking like a father_.

"Hi. Mom's just waiting for Jackie to finish in the bathroom. They'll be right out."

Hyde nodded, walked in and looked around the living room as he waited. His eye was immediately drawn to the wall that was almost like a Kelso shrine. His certificates of promotion, press clippings, pictures of him and Brooke being married, Kelso and Betsey all were centred on Kelso's badge. It had been pinned to a bed of navy blue velvet and framed in oak; underneath was a small brass plaque that read _Michael Bernardino Kelso October 11 1958 – July 8 1992_. It made Hyde smile to see how nicely his friend was still remembered at home.

The creak of the floorboards made him turn around and he saw Brooke carefully guiding Jackie out. She looked like nothing Hyde had ever seen; somehow as her pregnancy progressed her skin had become softer, more caramel than before and the baby weight on her cheeks pushed the apples into adorable chipmunk bunches.

"Where's your chariot?"

"Actually, I think I should be okay without it tonight. I've been good following the doctor's orders to the letter and he said that it's only precautionary now. Going to dinner, where I'll be sitting down most of the time seems like a good way to start that."

"Alright, well let's go, this place Brooke booked us for is pretty cha-ching, I think they're charging me by the minute for a reservation."

Once at the restaurant, a maitre d' dressed in black tie clothing led them to a small candlelit table, complete with champagne flutes and fresh orange roses – Jackie's favourite flower - where a corked magnum was waiting in a silver bucket.

"It's sparkling cider," the host explained as he removed the foil and poured the bubbling beverage into the waiting crystal flutes. "When Miss Kelso made the reservation said there should be a treat on her behalf for you both."

Jackie felt the tears well up in her eyes, but she quickly quelled them as the man continued, "Your dinner tonight consists of a delicious spicy tomato and basil soup to start with, trout filet smoked with grapefruit and hickory for the appetizer course, following by a delightful lemon-lime sorbet, then prime rib with three cheese and porcini mushroom risotto and braised arugula, a fine selection of Quebecois cheeses and finally seven layer apricot gateau with fresh cream to be served with coffee."

"Hang on here, Jeeves," Hyde said, noticing the delighted glaze in Jackie's eye at such fine and plentiful food. "We're on a bit of a budget here so as nice as it sounds, how about just some porterhouse steaks and the chocolate mousse to split?"

"It's already taken care of, sir." The man's smile was polite yet gleeful. "Miss Kelso's father owns this restaurant so when the she makes special arrangements for personal guests, there is no request or wish denied. And your tab has been looked after for you as well. Enjoy."

The maitre d' scuttled away to give his troops their orders, leaving Hyde and Jackie to stare at each other before they burst out laughing.

"Wow, no wonder Brooke was so excited for us to have this night."

"I think small African countries could be made debt-free for the price of our dinner." Jackie smiled, winced a little as she felt a good solid kick against her ribs. "Oh!"

"Jackie? What it is?" Hyde's instincts kicked in immediately.

"It's fine, baby, really, just the wee one letting us know they're being left out." But Jackie did admit only to herself she felt just a little light headed. She blamed it on the fresh roses standing in the vase on the table, which she now sniffed eagerly.

"The flowers are actually mine," Hyde interjected. "I told Brooke I wanted to get you something original for tonight, then two days after I mentioned it, she said she'd gotten some specially ordered."

"Well, I think I'm going to take one with me to sniff while I run to the ladies' room." Jackie only laughed when Hyde looked at her with a completely baffled and confused expression on his face. "I don't know why either."

She rose from the table carefully, steadied herself as starbursts appeared in front of her eyes. Breathing deeply, she took cautious steps, knowing the whole time Hyde's eyes were on her. She had made it halfway across the dining room before she began to see the colours of the tablecloths and flowers swim in front of her.

"Steven…" she tried to call, but it came out in a slur.

Hyde had watched her take a stumbling step to her left and before he knew it, he was leaping out of his chair as Jackie slumped to the floor, her eyes closed, the rose still clutched in her hand.

"Someone call an ambulance!"


	11. A Scarier Moment

Hey everyone, I know it was so mean to do to Jackie what I did in the last chapter, but how would I kept my readers hooked if it was just a simple ordinairy pregnancy? Also, let's see if we can get the reviews for this story to surpass 'Rock of Ages', this story's predecessor. So far (not including this chapter) we're at 10 chappies and 49 reviews! Let's keep it going!

* * *

Donna and Eric raced into the emergency room of West Chicago Hospital, into a wall of sound: crying children, doctor's voices barking orders, tired nurses calling the next patients. Still dressed in her own fine attire for their dinner out, Donna marched to the desk like a woman on a crusade and demanded, "We need to see Jackie Hyde, now."

"Are you friend or family?"

"Family. I'm her sister-in-law," Donna fibbed on the fly, making Eric arch an eyebrow. "We need to be updated on her status now."

"I'm sorry but there's not much information I can give you. I'm just an admissions nurse tonight, I'm not looking after any specific patients."

"I don't care if you're treating Priscilla fucking Presley, lady, we need to know what is happening with my sister, Jacqueline Beulah Hyde, _now_." Donna drilled her finger into the countertop, punctuating her statement.

"Ma'am if you can't control your temper, I'll have to call security."

"Oh you haven't begun to see my temper yet."

Before Eric had to bodily restrain his wife, Hyde appeared from one of the many corridors branching off from the emergency room. One look at his face told Eric that his control was held together with one very thin and greasy thread. They immediately went to him, embraced him tightly for support.

"She's…she's in Intensive Care," Hyde managed through the emotion in his voice. "They haven't told me much, but she came around once in the ambulance."

"The baby?"

"So far the baby is doing alright, they've got it on a monitor, but if Jackie…if Jackie doesn't improve they may have to do an emergency C-section. They don't know how much strain her body will be able to take with her body trying to support the baby's as well."

Donna let out a shaky breath. It wasn't the best report, but things could have been much, much worse. Instead she looped an arm through Hyde's, followed him to the elevators.

When they reached Jackie's room, Donna turned to Eric, her face solemn as he'd ever seen it.

"Do you mind if I go in by myself first? I think it might help Jackie to see another woman who's given birth right now."

"Of course. I'm going to go find us some coffee, and call my parents, and Brooke."

"We already called Brooke," Hyde offered numbly. "She called Kitty and Red, told them to bring Roberta and Pat to her house to stay with Betsey."

Donna nodded, squeezed Eric's hand as Hyde shoved open the door quietly. The room was quiet, save for the electronic beep-beep of the monitors Jackie was hooked up to. Two IV bags, one of blood, the other of an unknown clear liquid, dripped into her left hand. In the middle of the bed was Jackie, looking smaller, paler and more doll-like than Donna had ever seen. Her normally made-up face was completely bare and a thin sheen of sweated coated her face. The long dark curls were pulled back in a loose bunch behind her shoulders, though a few had stuck to her face.

When she glanced up and saw the arrival in the room, Donna nearly cried at the hopeless light in her eyes.

"Donna."

"Yes, Jackie, it's me." Donna immediately went to her friend, gripped her hand tightly. "Eric and I got here as quick as we could."

"Donna I'm scared, what if-"

"Hey, none of that. You listen to me, Jackie; this is not your fault. You did everything right, you had good nutrition, you did the Lamaze classes and mommy fitness swim classes, even wore those surgical masks at work so you wouldn't inhale any chemicals."

"I still feel guilty. I shouldn't have been so stupid and thought I could have that much mobility without help."

"Jackie, you were given the doctor's clearance," Donna began, then stopped when Jackie's hand tightened in earnest around hers.

"Oh, no, not another one. That stupid dripping thing is supposed to stop them."

Having gone through childbirth herself, Donna recognized the symptoms of panic and demonstrated the proper breathing technique with Jackie. When Jackie relaxed her grip, Donna gave her a reassuring smile and patted her friend's forehead with a cold compress.

"Okay, I'm going to go find Eric, let him know as of this minute he is your personal slave, okay?"

Donna rose, pressed a little kiss on Jackie's forehead and stepped outside. As soon as the door shut behind her, she let out a great sob. She and Jackie had been friends since they were in high school and Jackie had never taken any shit lying down. She'd always had a snippy comeback, a snide comment, her Zen, always there was something she'd done. Donna had never realized how larger-than-life Jackie's personality was. To see her like this, so tiny and scared, was levelling and how Hyde wasn't having a total nuclear meltdown - or Jackie for that matter - was a true testament to how much they loved one another, and how much they loved their baby already.

"Donna?"

Donna turned around and saw Eric holding a tray of coffees in his hand. He set them down as down threw her arms around his neck, which sent him staggering back a good three steps.

"She's so brave, Eric, she is. She's…I'm so scared for her."

"I know. We all are. But we're all here, and if anything good or bad happens, we'll all be here."


	12. A Turning Point

One hour passed then two. Two quickly became four, which turned into six, then eight. The world outside kept on spinning away, Hyde saw as he looked out Jackie's window, but for him, everything that was worth giving more than a damn about was lying in that bed, suffering torture he didn't even want to try and comprehend. Part of him felt guilty – he was the one who'd gotten her pregnant hadn't he – but mostly he was terrified beyond belief.

It was too soon. Jackie wasn't due until the seventeenth of March; she'd started contractions over a month early. Too many things could go wrong with Jackie because of her tiny size that, no matter how hard she'd tried, simply couldn't keep any kind of extra weight on her bones. And if something happened…if something happened to her, Hyde wasn't quite sure how he'd be able to handle it. They'd been torn apart by circumstance so many times before, he didn't know if he could handle the ultimate separation.

Moving away from the window, his fingers playing numbly with the tie that hung loose over his neck, he looked at Jackie who had somehow managed to fall asleep again.

"Baby, I know it's gotta be rough for you. I really don't know if there's anything I can say that'll make it better for you. We both know I've never been good at words."

Hyde sighed deeply. "I was thinking maybe we could call the baby Michael, if it's a boy. I know you and Kelso had only been friends for a long time but I think he'd like it, since he was the one who brought us back together all the time."

Jackie's eyes fluttered open then, and Hyde could see the glaze of the medication in them. "Steven?"

"Yes?"

"My parents?"

Hyde swallowed. He hadn't even thought about calling Jackie's parents. True enough, Jack Burkhart was in prison so he couldn't do much about it, but Pam…Pam should be here. "I'll go find out."

Hyde kissed her hand, then went out of the room, down the hall to the waiting room where he saw Kitty, Red and Brooke had joined Donna and Eric. All talk between them ceased when they saw him enter.

"Jackie wants me to call her mom, but I have no idea where Pam is or how to get a hold of her."

"I'm on it," Brooke replied dutifully and went off in search of a payphone.

"We called Fez, too, he's in the middle of a show right now, but his agent said as soon as he's off stage, he'll be heading out on the red eye flight," Eric added.

"Good, that's…good. Jackie would like to know he's here. I should go back there."

The group watched Hyde wander out of the room before they turned back and exchanged worried glances.

"He's really rattled," Donna murmured. "I've never seen Hyde like this, not even when his parents bailed on him."

Eric nodded his agreement. "Jackie is the only woman I think who loved Hyde unconditionally, no matter what the circumstances. Do you remember Veterans Day, when he punched that guy out?"

"Well I certainly do," Kitty laughed, hoping it would help calm her nerves. "It was so obvious even then that Steven liked her. Eric, why did nothing ever happen until that summer Kelso left?"

"I think they both knew that things were still very unresolved between Jackie and Kelso. Either that or Hyde simply decided that Jackie wasn't the girl for him just yet."

"Hey, do you remember when we found out they were dating?"

Eric shuddered at the memory of walking into the basement and seeing Jackie and Hyde attached at the lips. Whatever joy he'd felt at seeing his girlfriend in her Catholic school uniform had been immediately quelled at the site of his best friend violating the snarky little cheerleader with mismatched eyes.

"Great, now I feel like I want to throw up that chicken arribiata."

"You could have ordered red meat like a man?" Red asked, glancing up from the magazine he was reading.

"I'll have you know that it's incredibly spicy and that eating spicy foods in many cultures signifies great masculinity…oh why am I arguing with you? I'm thirty-five years old, I have two kids, and I braved African jungles for sixteen months. Of course I'm a real man."

Brooke reappeared, a huffy look on her face. "That bitch," she sputtered, "is in Los Angeles, I managed to track her down, and she isn't flying back. I told her Jackie and the baby were in the hospital and she said she'd catch the next flight out tomorrow so she could finish her Valentine's with Carlo, who is apparently Spanish and loaded."

Just then, a nurse dressed in surgical scrubs came in, her eyes immediately honing in on Kitty. "Nurse Foreman, can I see you a moment?"

The gulps from everyone were audible as she went with the nurse outside. Through the glass windows, they all saw Kitty press a hand to her mouth and nod sombrely. She came back into the room, tears swimming in her eyes when she gave Red her purse and her coat.

"The baby's gone into foetal distress, so they're taking Jackie into surgery right away. They want me to go with Steven to try and keep him calm."

A heavy silence coated the room as Kitty went down the hall with the surgical nurse, asking where she could obtain scrubs from. Eric and Red looked to the two women in the room, hoping they would be able to shed some light on the subject. Finally Donna spoke quietly.

"They're doing what's best for Jackie and the baby. All we can do is wait."


	13. An Angel Born

6 more reviews to go! You can do it!

* * *

They had coffee and waited. Brooke called home to check on Betsey and the other kids, and waited. They read all the magazines. And waited. Fez left word at the nurses' station that his plane had landed in O'Hare and was going to meet htem at the hospital, but Brooke redirected him to the house, saying the children needed their Uncle Fez to reassure them everything would be fine. Fez put up no argument since he'd finished a matinee performance and a nine-o'clock curtain then hopped on a plane with nothing more than his wallet and a toothbrush once his assistant had given him the news about Jackie. Red had stomped around grousing about the crappy hospital coffee, and asked Eric why he couldn't find something better. When it led to angry words between father and son, Eric stormed out of the room and didn't come back for nearly fifteen minutes. When he did, it was with a full tray of Starbucks' lattes of varying strengths, but for read there was a double-shot espresso; there was also pastries both sweet and savoury. There were even a few slices of plastic-wrapped poppy seed bread everyone knew was Hyde's favourite, which Donna put into her bag to save for her friend.

They drank their coffees and played tic-tac-toe. They ate biscotti and renamed all the fish in the wallpaper of the waiting room.

And they waited.

"Why the hell is this taking so long?" Juiced up from too much caffeine, Eric bounced his foot nervously, then leapt up to pace in the waiting room. "It's been nearly fort-five minutes since Mom left, we should know _something_ by now."

As if on cue, Kitty came back into the room and to everyone's utter shock, Hyde followed her. He made no attempt to speak, just stared with a fixed gaze on Eric. When Donna finally broke the silence, she addressed Kitty.

"So…what's the deal?"

"They've stepped up Jackie's meds and they're hoping to get her back on track. The baby's heart rate has climbed back into the normal range, but they want to keep a close eye on it to make sure it stays that way."

"Why did they take her into surgery?"

Kitty looked at Hyde, who continued to stare straight at Eric. "They might have to deliver the baby if they can't get the baby's heart rate to stay constant. Right now, they need to work on getting her healthy so I brought Steven here to get some coffee."

"We saved you some of that poppy seed bread," Donna offered, reaching into her purse and passing him the cake.

Hyde took it with numb fingers, smelled the tangy sweet scent of it as he removed the wrapper. Then without warning he turned and hurled the cake against the wall; it landed with a soft splat on the linoleum floor. No one said a word, the only sound was Hyde's haggard breathing before he barked out, "What? What's everyone looking at? My wife and my kid could die and you look at me like I've got a third eye?"

Then something inside him, something he'd been holding onto ever since he saw Jackie slump to the floor at the Delphi Room, snapped loose like a dam crumbling. He gulped in the air but he couldn't seem to breathe, as a hurricane of emotions tumbled out of him. Before he knew it, he was openly sobbing in front of Eric, Donna, Brooke and the Foremans.

"I can't…I can't take this. I've lost her so many times, but now…"

Hyde buried his face in his hands, then felt someone pull him close. He didn't realize until he automatically hugged back that it was Red.

"Steven," Red said in his tone that meant business, "you have turned yourself into a fine young man, and I'm proud to think of you as a son, but you are not going to lose Jackie. She needs you right now to be strong for her."

Before Hyde good reply, the same nurse came back, her eyes quiet. "Mister Hyde, we need you to come back to surgery now. Jackie's doctor wants to proceed with the c-section."

Hyde swiped the heels of his hands over his cheeks, and followed the nurse out of the room. He breathed deeply, hoping to take Red's advice and regain his composure. When the reached the outside of the operating room, the nurse passed a scrub gown to Hyde, and a surgical cap.

"Now, they've got your wife under sedation and given her regional anaesthetic so she'll be conscious of what's going on. We want you to stay up near her face so it provides her a distraction, okay? Something she can concentrate on. You can talk to her, but we need you to make sure you are absolutely calm, otherwise she'll probably become even more distressed."

"Okay."

"Okay. Tie this mask on, and then we'll go in."

They went into the OR, and for a moment Hyde was sure he was going to pass out. He'd never been comfortable in hospitals and being given a front row seat to major surgery was not something he'd put onto his 'Things to Do Before I Die' list. Then he saw Jackie turn her head, eyes searching, and he immediately went to her side, sat down on the wheel-footed stool that had been put there.

"Steven."

"I'm here sweetie. The doctor's are going to deliver our baby now," Hyde in a rush, then he remembered the nurse's words. _Provide her a distraction_. "So, anything you wanted to do before this baby was born?"

"Eat a chocolate-caramel dipped soft pretzel in Bavaria."

"Well, maybe we'll do that tomorrow."

Jackie smiled softly. "Where's our baby?"

"It's on its way, honey."

"Okay Jackie, here we go," the doctor said, "I want you to take a deep breath and when I say so, let it out okay?"

"Uh-huh."

Hyde focused his energy on his wife, watched her screw up her face in concentration.

"Good, that's good Jackie, now breathe out."

When he saw a small tear trickle down the side of her face, Hyde reached over and brushed it away. Suddenly, an unknown force compelled him to open his mouth and start singing, "Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train, and I was feeling near as faded as my jeans."

Jackie opened her eyes and looked at him. He'd sang the same song to her after she'd been through a brutal bout of morning sickness; Jackie had always been a Janis Joplin fan and she'd always found that song very soothing.

She licked her lips and replied groggily, "Bobby thumbed a diesel down just before it rained…"

"It rode us all the way to New Orleans." Hyde kissed Jackie's hand, looked over at the nurse who gave a curt nod. "Okay honey, you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Okay Jackie, another deep breath, you'll feel a little pressure okay?"

The next minutes of Hyde's life had never been so blurry, as he forced all of his attention onto Jackie as the doctors performed the procedure. A couple of times Jackie cried out; whether it was from pain or despair Hyde didn't know, but he just held fast to her hand.

Then all noise seemed to fade except for one sound: the thin desperate cry of life newly brought into the world.

Jackie began to laugh a little at the sound and Hyde quickly joined in with her.

"Where is it?"

"She," the doctor corrected. "It's a girl."


	14. A Name

**A/N:** So this is the next-to-last chapter for this story...thank you to everyone who's been reviewing and following it! I was so excited to hear the responses that I got, especially you guys who were saying how you cried...I'm glad I was able to give y'all a story that you became emotionally invested in like that!...Also have to get in there that I don't have any rights to the lyrics of 'Me and Bobby McGee' by Janis Joplin, it's just a fave song of mine, as is 'Could You Be Loved?' which Hyde starts up with in this chapter as well...so now we get to see Hyde as a daddy! Oh and once this story gets 2 reviews, it's passed the review count for 'Rock of Ages!'...you know the drill now!

_

* * *

She_

. It was a girl. They had a daughter, Hyde realized. For like the millionth time that night, he swiped at errant tears on his face. 

"Can I see her?"

"In a minute, Jackie, we have to clean her up and weigh her," the nurse responded.

"Okay." Jackie nodded. The full effect of the drugs was taking over; she felt light headed and sleepy. "Steven?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we still give her Kelso's name?"

Hyde grinned. "Of course."

The nurse came back over with their baby, and passed her to Hyde. "Here she is."

Hyde stared down at the little wriggly person wrapped in soft white blankets, her face scrunched up and mouth opened in a Bob Marley wail. One tiny pink-caramel hand was clenching and unclenching in a fist. Hyde couldn't see the colour of her eyes, but he saw they had Jackie's long black lashes.

"Hi Michael," Hyde whispered to her. Immediately her fretful whimpers soften and he could see her eyes, that were now open wide and staring at him, were so deep blue they were almost black. "She knows her name."

"Yeah, she does."

"Jackie, we want to get you stitched up and cleaned up, too, and then take you up to post-op. We're going to give you a second dose of sedative once you're up there so you can get some sleep, okay?"

"Uh-huh."

"Hyde can I speak to you a moment?"

The nurse took Michael from Hyde's arms and placed her in a bassinet before taking Hyde out of the operating room. "I just want them to have a bit of privacy while they fix Jackie up."

"Okay, so what's the deal?"

"The baby is a good size; she's seven pounds, six ounces, which means we probably won't need to give her any kind of assistance for nutrition. But because she's a month premature, the doctor still wants to put her in the NICU just to keep an eye on her immune system, make sure she doesn't develop any infections, and to make sure that when Jackie starts breast feeding, she'll be absorbing the proper amount of nutrients."

"Okay, um, how long will they keep her there?"

"Most likely just overnight to start with and then play it day-to-day from then." The nurse smiled and patted his shoulder. "You did well, Hyde, most guys panic on how to keep their women calm."

"Jackie's tough. We've been through a lot together. I figure if she can handle all that, this would be like Wonderland."

"I'm going to go with Jackie up to the post-op room, so I better head back in."

"Okay." Hyde stripped off the gown, tossed it into the same bin that he'd seen the nurse toss hers in, and walked back out to the waiting room to his group of people. His family. Brooke and Donna had fallen asleep propped up against each other, and Eric was idly flipping through a magazine. Kitty had also fallen asleep against Red and he'd put his arm around her; Red was still juiced up from the espresso and hadn't shut his eyes once. When he saw Hyde come into the waiting room, Red nudged Kitty awake, as Eric stood up and prodded the other women into alertness.

"So, ah what's the verdict? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I have a little girl."

The room erupted into zealous cheering and Kitty bounced over and threw her arms around Hyde's neck.

"They took Jackie into recovery, since they did a c-section but she's going to be fine, and the baby's in the NICU just as a precaution since she's a preemie, but…everyone's doing awesome so far."

"What about your little girl? What's her name?"

"Her name is Michael, we named her after Kelso."

Red looked at him with an astounded look on his face. "You named your brand spanking new baby girl after that oafish kettlehead who cheated on your wife with my trampy daughter?"

"No, Dad," Eric interjected, a defensive tone in his voice, "Hyde named his baby girl after his best friend who was a great father himself and set a damn fine example for all of us to live up to."

"Alright, well, I think we're all going to go back to Brooke's house, and we'll be here first thing in the morning. We'll bring food," Brooke added before a fight could breakout, "and the kids will be by, too."

Hyde gave them all a round of hugs; once they left he went to the nurses' station on the floor and asked for directions to the NICU. When he arrived there, he stopped hesitantly at the door, then caught Jackie's nurse's eye when she glanced up and saw him.

"Hey Hyde. You here to check on your little girl?"

"Yeah. I want to see her before I go see Jackie."

"Sure." She led him over to the bassinet where Michael was bawling away again.

"So did you pick out a name?"

"Yeah, we decided on Michael."

"But it's a girl."

Hyde stroked a finger tip over the skin of her cheek. "I know. My best friend was named Michael and he's the reason we ended up together at all. So I think we should name her Michael."

"I'm surprised you wouldn't pick something more music related. Jackie mentioned something about you owning a record store when I took her into post-op."

They stopped at Michael's bassinet and Jaime clucked her tongue as she picked up the crying infant and passed her to her father.

"She has a big ol' set of lungs in her, that's for certain."

"Yeah." Hyde agreed, holding his baby girl in a way that he hoped would calm her down. "She's always got something to say, just like her mother."

"Oh listen to you, Miss Mouth, just wailing away."

Hyde could almost feel the light bulb go off over his head. "Marley," he said, dreamily as he stroked a fingertip gently over his daughter's cheek. He smirked as he began to hum _Could You Be Loved_. Almost instantly, the baby's whimpers subsided and the eyes which were scrunched up, just like the moment he'd first seen her, slowly unclenched and stayed open, fixed on his face. When she giggled, Hyde felt himself fall in love all over again.

"That's right; you're my little wailer Marley Michael Hyde."


	15. A Family

Alrighty here it is, the last chapter! Many many thanks to all who reviews...also with Red's line about the Canadians, i'm a canadian so i figure i could get away with a little Red-like line there...so for the last time on this story...R&R&Enjoy!

* * *

The following couple of days were especially hectic with visitors and doctors hovering over Jackie and Marley. Jackie was being given supplements to make sure that once she began breast feeding she wouldn't be still losing weight, as was Marley, to make sure that she stayed at the weight she was. Visitors were constant, with lots of plants being brought, and there was even a little stuffed gosling wearing a Rastafarian-style hat that Hyde jokingly named Ziggy. Jackie knew that Hyde had to keep working at the record store during the day, every night he came down to Chicago and stayed in her room with her, then drove back to Point Place every morning.

Finally after a week of being kept under careful medical scrutiny, the doctors decided that Jackie was well enough to go home with Marley. She'd been shown by the nurse how to breast feed the baby and once she'd gotten the hang of it, Jackie felt herself become giddy with the sentiment of new motherhood as she watched her little girl have breakfast. Hyde had also brought the car seat as well as the cute little onesies Jackie had picked out just days before Marley was born.

Now, she watched Hyde as they pulled into their parking space behind the record store and went upstairs to the apartment, carrying Marley in her car seat, and couldn't help but notice he had a very smug, almost giddy expression on his face.

"Alright, here we are."

"Steven, what did you do?"

"Nothing. I'm just happy to have my favourite two women in the world home."

"Aw." Jackie leaned over and kissed him. "I think you're full of crap."

"Yeah, I am. I have a surprise for you."

Hyde tugged on Jackie's free hand as he deftly picked up the carrier in the other. He didn't say another word until they were inside and standing in front of the baby's room.

"Oh my God, Steven, it's beautiful."

The room, which had once just had the functional white plastic furniture in it, was finally completed. In the corner by the crib was a wicker rocking chair with pale green cushions and a matching receiving blanket draped over the arm. At the foot of the crib was a wooden armoire that had been lacquered to a glossy finish. Three of the soft yellow walls were stencilled with palm trees, seashells and sailboats, and on the fourth was a mural of a sunset that Jackie recognized immediately.

"That's the beach we saw from our hotel on our honeymoon."

"Yeah, I gave the guy a picture and said I thought you'd like to look at it when we're up at all hours with our little wailer. Oh and check this out," Hyde said, opening the wooden armoire to reveal a small stereo. He pushed a button and instantly the room was filled with soft strains of Bob Marley. "You can operate it by remote from anywhere in the room."

"That's amazing. But reggae music, Steven?"

"She likes it." As if on cue, Marley began to cry and Hyde just grinned. "Watch this."

He took the small remote and pushed a few buttons. When _Three Little Birds_ came on over the speakers, Marley quietened down into pleased gurgles. He smiled as he picked her up out of her seat, and cuddled her against his shoulder.

"See? She likes it."

---

The next morning, after a surprisingly quiet night – Jackie and Hyde were only up twice with Marley – they went to the Foremans'. After all it was Super Bowl Sunday and though Green Bay wasn't in the running, Red was still having the family over to watch the game. When they arrived, Roberta and Pat were playing a game of pick-up in the driveway with Betsey and a nice-looking boy while Eric and Red appeared to be manning the barbecue.

"Hey, Uncle Hyde! Come play with us!"

Hyde grinned at his goddaughter and hung back as Jackie took Marley into the house where he knew she'd get a hero's welcome. He caught the basketball she threw at him, eyed up the young man who slung his arm across her shoulders.

"And who is this chap?"

The boy, a lanky sort with chocolate brown eyes, straightened up when he saw Hyde and said in a slightly Italian voice, "Michael, sir, uh, Michael Vitale. But my, uh, friends, they, uh call me Vito."

"Of course they do." Hyde shook his head. "And how old are you?"

"Sixteen, sir."

"Hmm, well, if I find out you're not being a perfect gentleman with my goddaughter, I will put my foot in your ass."

Vito nodded his head vigorously. "Yes sir. C'mon Betsey, lets, uh, go find a drink."

Hyde watched them go then wandered over to Red, who was grinning broadly as he passed Steven a beer. Hyde looked at the bottle, labelled Labatt Blue. "Canadian beer, Red?"

"Yeah, I mean, they may be a bunch of peace-keeping pansies, but they make a hell of a brew. And on Super Bowl Sunday, you want the best, my boy. How's the baby?"

"Good, she's crying all the time, and if she's not crying she's sleeping or eating. Kinda like Foreman."

Red laughed heartily, clapped his son on the back. "Tell your mother we're ready to come inside for the pre-game pre-show, so we need those fixings ready for burgers and brats."

The group went inside, followed shortly by the youngsters, into the living room. Jackie was sitting on the couch with Marley in her arms, Donna and Kitty cooing at her. By the bar, Bob was explaining the various rules of football to her so she would be able to understand the basics of the game. When Eric set down the platter of barbecued meats, everyone dove in, while Kitty hopped up to pass around her Super Bowl cocktails.

"Something wrong, Steven?"

Hyde turned around to see Red smiling smugly, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "No, just wondering how long it'll take Jackie to realize that all the men in here are hoping she'll whip out one of her massive jugs to feed the baby."

Red smiled again – this time it was genuine – and clinked his beer with Hyde's. "You've got a good little family, there son."

Hyde looked at Jackie, who'd looked up and, for an instant, locked her eyes with him before turning to speak to Donna. For a moment, Hyde thought he heard a chiming sound, like a cymbal being softly struck. "Yeah, I do."


End file.
